To say that tensions are high right now between Chicago Cubs fans and the team's front office would be putting it mildly. Chicago hasn't reached the playoffs in a full season since 2018, and hasn't won a playoff game since 2017. The post-World Series rebuild was supposed to be over by now, but instead the team has been stuck on 83 wins for each of the past two years — all while Hoyer and Co. largely avoided making a splash via free agency or trade.
The offseason blockbuster deal for star outfielder Kyle Tucker was supposed to put all that behind them, a sign that Hoyer was finally ready to go all-in and do what was necessary to supplement an exciting core of young talent. Instead, he once again nibbled around the margins. And lo and behold, Chicago enters Thursday with a 12-9 record — good for first in a weak NL Central but hardly scaring the likes of the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.
It doesn't help that the team's pitching staff — the area that Hoyer vowed and then failed to meaningfully address over the offseason — has been the biggest culprit. Or that Tucker, for as good as he's been, might be one-and-done on the North Side as the team fails to sign him to a contract extension. At this point, it feels like Cubs fans have begun to openly wonder whether Hoyer will ever get it right, or whether Chicago is destined to be stuck in limbo for as long as he's in charge. And as it turns out, the rest of the league seems to feel the same way.
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Poll of MLB executives throws some serious shade at Cubs front office
The Athletic recently conducted an anonymous survey of "40 top decision-makers" from around the sport, asking them to rank what they believed to be the top five front offices in baseball right now. (Executives weren't allowed to vote for their own teams.)
The results are ... pretty much exactly what Cubs fans have been afraid of this whole time. Not only did Chicago not rank inside the top 10 — Hoyer and Co. didn't receive a single vote, getting shut out for the second year in a row.
And really, it's hard to argue against that assessment right now. It's not like Hoyer is strapped for resources, despite Tom Ricketts' unwillingness to spend big in recent years. But while Hoyer has overseen one of the top farm systems in the sport in recent years, that farm has failed to fully bear fruit, with third baseman Matt Shaw already back in the Minors after struggling in his debut and outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong having a hard time at the plate right now.
It seems like Hoyer's peers feel the same way that Cubs fans do about him: He's fine, certainly not horrible, but he also doesn't seem to elevate his organization in any meaningful way. As Chicago barrels toward a make-or-break summer, that should set off some alarms.